Where to move in Broward (Hollywood, Pompano Beach: real estate, hoa, apts)

[WestCoastFlorida]

I currently live in Naples, but as a single person, there is very little to do here and its hard to meet other 30-40 somethings. Considering moving to Broward, but not sure what areas are best. I'm looking for something sort of hip and trendy, safe for a single female, and also with a bit of a neighborhood feel. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[heakja]

Originally Posted by WestCoastFlorida

I currently live in Naples, but as a single person, there is very little to do here and its hard to meet other 30-40 somethings. Considering moving to Broward, but not sure what areas are best. I'm looking for something sort of hip and trendy, safe for a single female, and also with a bit of a neighborhood feel. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Being in my thirties myself and planning to buy a condo somewhere in Broward, I have used a lot of time browsing posts at this forum. The essence seems to be this:

Safe and smalltown feel: Lauderdale-by-the-sea and Lighthouse point
Artsy, but a little dumpish: Hollywood Beach
Trendy and party; Everything on or close to the Ft Lauderdale Beach
Gay, cool, but with some bad neighbourhoods: Wilton Manors
Posh: Hillsboro Beach and Galt Mile in Ft Lauderdale
Family-oriented and very safe: Weston
Stay away from: Pompano Beach and a lot of inland places and places close to or west of I95 (you can find a lot of links on places to avoid, just use the seachengine here.)

Anyone please correct me

[fauve]

I'd say Delray Beach (downtown Atlantic Ave area) for its neighborhood feel and its artsy feel/restaurants/festivals/galleries walkable to a quiet beach, with lots of loft-y type apts built on the side streets. Hollywood Beach is nice too - a bit more of an edge, more live music, and the housing isn't as new (or probably as expensive). The beach is more of a night-time scene in Hollywood too. I would recommend you check both out to see which fits you best.

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by heakja

Being in my thirties myself and planning to buy a condo somewhere in Broward, I have used a lot of time browsing posts at this forum. The essence seems to be this:

Safe and smalltown feel: Lauderdale-by-the-sea and Lighthouse point
Artsy, but a little dumpish: Hollywood Beach
Trendy and party; Everything on or close to the Ft Lauderdale Beach
Gay, cool, but with some bad neighbourhoods: Wilton Manors
Posh: Hillsboro Beach and Galt Mile in Ft Lauderdale
Family-oriented and very safe: Weston
Stay away from: Pompano Beach and a lot of inland places and places close to or west of I95 (you can find a lot of links on places to avoid, just use the seachengine here.)

Anyone please correct me

^^ this. Very good beak down.

[lydialuna]

Originally Posted by heakja

Being in my thirties myself and planning to buy a condo somewhere in Broward, I have used a lot of time browsing posts at this forum. The essence seems to be this:

Safe and smalltown feel: Lauderdale-by-the-sea and Lighthouse point
Artsy, but a little dumpish: Hollywood Beach
Trendy and party; Everything on or close to the Ft Lauderdale Beach
Gay, cool, but with some bad neighbourhoods: Wilton Manors
Posh: Hillsboro Beach and Galt Mile in Ft Lauderdale
Family-oriented and very safe: Weston
Stay away from: Pompano Beach and a lot of inland places and places close to or west of I95 (you can find a lot of links on places to avoid, just use the seachengine here.)

Anyone please correct me

But nice places are oftentime quite pricy yet smaller, and not pet-friendly. I struggled a bit trying to find a place to rent with two dogs, and finally have to give up my desire of being close to work and the beach because many of the rental properties can't really take two dogs. Sometimes safety is a perceptive view and we need to be careful no matter where we live.

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by heakja

Being in my thirties myself and planning to buy a condo somewhere in Broward, I have used a lot of time browsing posts at this forum. The essence seems to be this:

Safe and smalltown feel: Lauderdale-by-the-sea and Lighthouse point
Artsy, but a little dumpish: Hollywood Beach
Trendy and party; Everything on or close to the Ft Lauderdale Beach
Gay, cool, but with some bad neighbourhoods: Wilton Manors
Posh: Hillsboro Beach and Galt Mile in Ft Lauderdale
Family-oriented and very safe: Weston
Stay away from: Pompano Beach and a lot of inland places and places close to or west of I95 (you can find a lot of links on places to avoid, just use the seachengine here.)

Anyone please correct me

Having spent months TRYING to relo to Broward I totally agree with you. My 28 yr old son moved out of Broward due to boredom and went to downtown WPB. He also gave me the rundown exactly how you wrote it before I ever tried looking for a place. Except for the trendy and party part about FLL which he found to be not interesting at all. And he used the term sketchy alot and boring alot ha ha. Recently he also mentioned Delray Beach as a possible for me after meeting a girl's mom who lives there. I was serious about moving to Hollywood Beach until I got scammed for 2400.00 from a homeowner there. And in returning to plan my court action, now I think it's got entirely too many dumps and construction going on along that beach anyway. For me, that is.

Although there is a general awareness of crime surrounding downtown WPB you may want to take a trip up there to check if it's your scene.

I moved to Indian River County which is totally boring and uninteresting but Vero Beach is peaceful and ok for now. I figured if I'm going to be bored, might as well be bored in a lower crime zone. lol.

I also dislike the "new" influx of multiple families in a one family home and fake gangsta wannabees that I noticed in Broward when I came back this year to try and move there. It changed significantly in my opinion in the last year or two. I'm from Phila area the "city of murder" so I have a balanced understanding of "crime" versus "CRIME" but that doesn't mean I want to be around annoying posers, petty criminals or even the few actual REAL criminals that may be migrating to what once was a more generic "boring" retirement area.

I'm really not interested in watching high percentages of guys walking around with pants dangling around their thighs. I wanna smack 'em upside the head, it's the mom in me . I also object to significant amounts of people refusing to speak English in public and that's also increased around FLL imo.

[giselle1]

I would say the Mizner Park area in Boca or Las Olas area of Ft Laud

[mom2justynsarah]

I agree with you about WPB (City Place). It's always hoppin!

Although there is a general awareness of crime surrounding downtown WPB you may want to take a trip up there to check if it's your scene.

[lydialuna]

Originally Posted by runswithscissors

Having spent months TRYING to relo to Broward I totally agree with you. My 28 yr old son moved out of Broward due to boredom and went to downtown WPB. He also gave me the rundown exactly how you wrote it before I ever tried looking for a place. Except for the trendy and party part about FLL which he found to be not interesting at all. And he used the term sketchy alot and boring alot ha ha. Recently he also mentioned Delray Beach as a possible for me after meeting a girl's mom who lives there. I was serious about moving to Hollywood Beach until I got scammed for 2400.00 from a homeowner there. And in returning to plan my court action, now I think it's got entirely too many dumps and construction going on along that beach anyway. For me, that is.

Although there is a general awareness of crime surrounding downtown WPB you may want to take a trip up there to check if it's your scene.

I moved to Indian River County which is totally boring and uninteresting but Vero Beach is peaceful and ok for now. I figured if I'm going to be bored, might as well be bored in a lower crime zone. lol.

I also dislike the "new" influx of multiple families in a one family home and fake gangsta wannabees that I noticed in Broward when I came back this year to try and move there. It changed significantly in my opinion in the last year or two. I'm from Phila area the "city of murder" so I have a balanced understanding of "crime" versus "CRIME" but that doesn't mean I want to be around annoying posers, petty criminals or even the few actual REAL criminals that may be migrating to what once was a more generic "boring" retirement area.

I'm really not interested in watching high percentages of guys walking around with pants dangling around their thighs. I wanna smack 'em upside the head, it's the mom in me . I also object to significant amounts of people refusing to speak English in public and that's also increased around FLL imo.

This is quite a point of view of class/social segregation. Multi-family complexes don't necessarily mean crime or CRIME. People have freedom to dress or talk whatever the way they want to as long as it doesn't impose a nuisance to the public or it doesn't violate the laws.

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by lydialuna

This is quite a point of view of class/social segregation. Multi-family complexes don't necessarily mean crime or CRIME. People have freedom to dress or talk whatever the way they want to as long as it doesn't impose a nuisance to the public or it doesn't violate the laws.

Apparently you didn't understand my words that said :

"influx of multiple families in a one family home "

Operative term ONE FAMILY HOME. not "multi family complex". It's a good idea to not change the words of someone you're trying to quote.

Perhaps you're unaware of this new occurance in So Fl and if you read the threads here I am not the only person to assert the situation. It has specifically started with the recent housing crisis.

There are several complaints of multiple unrelated or extended "families" (loosely defined) renting small SINGLE FAMILY homes and creating a nuisance in formerly peaceful neighborhoods. After spending several months flying back and forth to FLL I saw it with my own eyes in neighborhoods that were a BUILT for a "couple" and now house about 8 people. Plus a handful of big dogs. Specifically in part, Mainlands Tamarac, a group of 17 SINGLE family home communities that were originally built for retirees. 850 to approx 1200 sq ft . With individual HOAs. Notice the term SINGLE FAMILY. It's an official real estate term not one that I created.

Not surprisingly with this lifestyle of squeezing numerous people into small houses comes other pleasantries like working on cars lifted up in the driveways, toys all over the front and back yards, cars lined up out the driveway down the streets, trash overflowing from trashcans and bags piled up, INDOOR furniture dragged outside, tupperware containers of crap stored outside, music blasting and the residents conducting fake pit bull fights in the middle of the streets. Unfortunately Mainlands 10, a neighborhood I wanted to move to is one like this. I saw it last month. And the Petco shopping center across the street is full of saggy pants punks where a year or two ago it was a traditional "old persons" type of neighborhood, albeit my own son and his gf lived there quite happily until the neighborhood changed.

This is not specific to Broward either. In the Vero Beach SINGLE FAMILY HOME that I now rent, the previous middle aged single female tenant signed the lease for one person, and brought in two unrelated men as roommates. This is not permitted by HOA. By the time they acted on the situation, which included annoying behaviors such as blasting bass car stereos and leaking oil all over the place from junkers, and having "guests" parking all over the street....she was about to be evicted since even with TWO roommates they apparently couldn't pull together the 1200 rent, ......and moved out during the night and stuck a very nice landlord (who lives in Weston) with several months rent and completely damaged carpets in all three bedrooms from dogs. The house is only two years old and the garage is filled with oil stains, the verticals are wrecked, the cooktop looks like it's about 10 years old too.

His mistake was being a nice guy and not acting on the five day eviction Florida statute and trying to work with her. Since that time I've received all her mail that she didn't bother to forward including bills for NSF checks written to her mother's nursing home. nice. I'd hazard a guess she would have done better in a different neighborhood since a single female middle aged woman with money problems doesnt need a three bedroom 2600 sq ft house in a strict HOA. See? judgment problems abound.

Regarding the baggy pants phenom, you say as long as it doesn't violate the law. Perhaps it went unnoticed or disapproved by you that Riviera Beach overwhelmingly approved the Mayor's "saggy pants" law in March 2008. Riviera Beach is not the only place to start this either.


Saggy pants law overwhelmingly approved in Riviera Beach
KOAA.com - Saggy pants ban in effect in Riviera Beach, Florida

apparently this topic caused quite a stir here, too.
Saggy Pants Law Passed in Riviera Beach, FL

I'm sorry you feel I'm somewhat elitist. Live with whomever you chose, I chose to live away from that crowd. You can call it class/social segregation, I call it a deteriorating neighborhood and ignorant people.

I noticed you disregarded my categorization of "fake gansta wannabees and annoying posers, petty criminals or even the few actual REAL criminals
that may be migrating to what once was a more generic "boring" retirement area." Why do you think everyone advises newcomers to avoid the whole middle of the FLL area? LOL. Move east of Fed or West of University, north of Commercial LOL.